Sony inks exclusive Rockstar Games
deal for Playstation 3

1 August, 2007

Its no secret that famous games drive
console sales and, naturally,
exclusive titles often turbocharge
sales. And because of this, there is
great curiosity in the Playstation
comunity about the new deal between
Sony and Rockstar Games.

According to reports, Rockstar Games,
the brains behind the Grand Theft Auto
Series, has inked a deal with Sony as
per which Sony will have an exclusive
to the "next great franchise" from the
hit-making studios of Rockstar Games.

Sony has officially confirmed the news
on its official Playstation blog on
Friday. "Everyone knows to have
success in this business you need to
look ahead, identifying the talent and
titles that are going to give
consumers new kinds of gaming
experiences that help set the bar for
the rest of the industry. Rockstar has
a heritage for doing just that,"
Michael Shorrock from Sony said.

With the deal, Sony expects to
emphasize the uniqueness of its
Playstation console. Both the
companies refused to reveal further
details about the arrangement.
Although there were initial reports
that Rockstar Games' upcoming title LA
Noire would be the first combination
from the duo, the companies have
confirmed that the title being
developed is not the same. LA Noire is
a 1940 crime thriller and is expected
to blend cinema and gaming. The game
is expected to release some time in
2008.

Michael Shorrock said, "Rockstar
really wanted to make a game that you
can truly only do on PS3, harnessing
the power of Cell and Blu-ray disc.
This deal will do that."

It is also not clear whether the game
would be a downloaded PSN game or a
full-featured title, but industry
experts believe that the game would
come on a Blu-ray disk.

The comments from the Playstation
community are more than exciting.
Everyone is happy Sony inked the deal
with Rockstar as the company has not
developed any bad games. It is also
believed that the current deal with
Rockstar Games will help Sony rise
from its third-place position among
current-generation game consoles.

Reports suggest that as of now there
are more Wii-exclusive games in
development than for any other
console. The Wii has 113 exclusives,
the Xbox 360 has 96, and the PS3 --
before this Rockstar deal -- only 47.